"Fans of Tactical Shooters will love Ghost Recon."

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon is a first-person shooter with a squad-based element of game play. This is not a typical first-person shooter where you shoot everything in sight and can take a large amount of shots before dying. This game focuses on realistic aspects of war, so the element of realism is very high, and, as almost everyone knows, war is brutal.

Story: 10/10 In Ghost Recon, you take charge of a squad of U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers, the Green Berets, deployed for peacekeeping duty to Europe. Your job is to help stop the Russians, who have started to invade nearby territories. The situation mentioned is hypothetical, but could happen to any country in the future. As you go on throughout the game, situations change, as the story gets more and more intense. This fires you up and motivates you to do your mission.

Graphics: 9/10 The graphics are great. They’re great, but nothing special. The character models are realistic as you watch them blend well into the environment because most of them are wearing camouflage. Vehicle models are also excellent. The environment graphics are okay and simplistic.

Sound Effects: 10/10 The sounds throughout the game are very excellent. The sounds of gunfire are realistic and help you get into the game.

Voice Acting: 10/10 Most of the time, the voices you hear are from the person briefing you about the mission. However, the in-game voices from your soldiers are quick and direct to the point which gives you the feeling of fighting out there with real soldiers. The enemy voices are in their native tongues, and add to the feel of fighting as well.

Music: 10/10 The music in this game is very good, simply because they play at the right time and place. When everything is quiet, and there are no enemies in sight, a slow, soothing, relaxing music is played. When enemies discover you or someone fires the first shot at the beginning of an intense firefight, a loud and fast-paced music is played, which heightens the action. And when you finish your mission, the music being played makes you very proud of your accomplishments. Music, indeed, plays a great part in getting you into the game.

Gameplay: 10/10 This game is a first-person shooter with a squad-based feel to it. You take control of one soldier, and you also have other soldiers with you (broken down into two teams, maximum of three soldiers each). You can switch to each soldier on the fly, which comes in handy if you want to use specific weaponry. There are five types of soldiers: Riflemen, Support Soldiers, Snipers, Demolitions Experts, and Specialists. Riflemen carry assault rifles and they are your typical soldier on the field. Support Soldiers carry machine guns, which they use to provide heavy covering fire. Snipers carry sniper rifles for long-range engagements. Demolitions Experts bring with them explosives and anti-tank weaponry. Finally, Specialists are soldiers who bring unique weaponry to the team, and are unlocked after completing extra mission objectives.

Each soldier also has statistics, which are: Weapon, Stealth, Endurance, and Leadership. These statistics can be improved by the player after each mission, which makes the game have an RPG feel to it.

The enemy AI and your team’s AI are also very good. The enemy, when you open fire on them, will crawl and take cover. Your team will also alert you about enemy personnel and vehicles when they are close by. They will alert you of everyone’s current status. They will also, like the enemy AI, seek for cover when the enemy opens up on them.

The game also has training levels designed to improve your skills before going into the main missions.

Replayability: 9/10 You can repeat any mission you have finished already, and there are also three difficulty levels to choose from.

Overall Rating: 9/10 If you like military-themed games, then Ghost Recon is for you.

Positives: (+)23 missions (+)The ability to upgrade a soldier’s stats after each mission (+)Realistic war scenarios (+)The ability to repeat a mission you’ve already completed (+)You get to blow up tanks! :)

Negatives: (-)No online play, which some players were looking forward to. (-)The screams of dying soldiers in the tank you just blew up… :(